Visva-Bharati authorities late on Friday night complied with Calcutta High Court’s interim order that on Wednesday directed the varsity to stay its decision to rusticate three students on charges of impropriety and let them resume academic activities.
The three students, who had also been suspended in January, had been leading protests within and outside the campus against the “whimsical attitude” of vice-chancellor Bidyut Chakrabarty and his alleged attempts at saffronising the campus.
The proctor of Visva-Bharati circulated two orders via email to the departments of economics and Hindustani classical music requesting action according to the high court order around 11.30pm on Friday. The same email was sent to top varsity officials, including confidential secretary to VC Chakrabarty.
On Saturday, the heads of the two departments called up the trio and asked them to resume classes from Monday.
The trio, economics students Somnath Sow and Falguni Pan, and Hindustani classical music student Rupa Chakraborty, as well as some teachers alleged on Saturday that the varsity’s “almost-midnight order” in adherence to the court ruling was a ruse to keep students suspended “in a way” till Monday owing to the weekend in between.
“It means we will get the benefit of the high court order after at least four days and we don’t know whether our VC has another trick up his sleeve for us on Monday. We want to sit for our exams,” said Sow.
Several varsity officials criticised the administration for issuing the order close to midnight. “At the stroke of the midnight, when the world sleeps, Prof Shankar Majumdar, proctor of Visva-Bharati was awake to send a letter to the Principal of Vidya Bhavana…. To comply with the order of the honourable High Court at Calcutta, ” the Visva-Bharati University Faculty Association letter reads.
“We reiterate our demand — the misdeeds of Prof Bidyut Chakrabarty and his assorted lackeys have to be investigated by a high-level committee,” the letter reads.
The letter pointed out that the VC had not left his residence this week but the admission process and publication of results resumed. Varsity authorities had earlier claimed during the students’ gherao of the VC’s residence that his physical presence was required for both the jobs.
Asked about the delay in issuing the notice to comply with the court order, proctor Majumdar on Saturday said only the varsity’s public relations officer could brief the media. The officiating PRO Anirban Sircar did not take calls or reply to a WhatsApp message from this paper.